Reds third base coach Mark Berry told the team Sunday morning that he has been diagnosed with cancer, but expressed optimism that he will beat it.

“I have cancer,” Berry told reporters after the team meeting. “I know it sounds bad, the word cancer, but there are plenty of people in this clubhouse that have had it and I know people around the game who have beaten it. My sister had it and beat it. That part hasn’t bothered me.”

The cancer is “on his tonsil and two lymph nodes,” adds Rosecrans, but it was detected at an early stage and the prognosis is positive. Berry is going to remain in Reds camp through the end of spring training and will decide on the next course of action once he travels back with the team to Cincinnati.

If Berry, 50, undergoes radiation, he will not join the Reds on road trips this season.

Berry has been the Reds’ third base coach for 10 years. He’s been with the organization for 30.

My grandfather is currently dying of colon and bone cancer…he’s almost 88 and has been healthy as a horse his whole life. He went into the hospital a couple of weeks ago, and the oncologists have only given him 1-2 weeks. It must’ve been developing for months, if not years, and he hardly had any symptoms until it was too late.

It’s an awful, awful disease. Scientists are doing amazing things though, and hopefully someday we can be rid of this scourge.

Obviously, we already have cures for cancer. His odds of beating this are very good. If what you mean is, you hope we find a way for cancer to not manifest….well, that type of genetic understanding and ability to manipulate DNA in that sort of specific fashion is not anywhere on the horizon.

lol I love that you are always you, paperlions. I think what he means is that he hopes we can find a way to a 100% cure rate.

paperlions - Mar 24, 2013 at 9:38 PM

I know. To have a 100% cure rate, that type of understanding is going to have to be achieved. Cancer is not some disease caused by an invading organism or virus. It is just unregulated cell growth, which can occur spontaneously due to random mutations (even in the absences of agents known to increase the likelihood of cancer occurring). Cancer is a naturally occurring error, and we are not anywhere near a point that people can be genetically modified to have our systems automatically fix errors as they occur. Without the ability to “fix” cells using non-invasive procedures, a 100% cure rate is not achievable.

historiophiliac - Mar 24, 2013 at 10:31 PM

In the meantime, the “cure” is hell.

stlouis1baseball - Mar 25, 2013 at 10:49 AM

LOL! You are killing me Paper. I promise you…if we were ever hanging out every time you said something like this I would force feed shots of tequila down your throat.
And right before I purchased the shot…I would say “and another one for my friend Mr. Obvious.”
But I would do so with love. And a much lighter wallet.

paperlions - Mar 25, 2013 at 11:03 AM

Sounds good to me….as long as I get to pick the tequila (Irish whiskey or a good bourbon would also be acceptable)

paperlions - Mar 25, 2013 at 11:05 AM

FWIW, you would THINK that would be obvious….but the “wipe out cancer” campaigns really do act like it is some organismally-based disease that we just need to find the “cure” for and then everyone can get a shot and not worry about cancer. It is wearying.